1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clinical laboratory apparatus and a method of controlling a reagent dispensation regarding two or more analysis items.
2. Discussion of the Background
A clinical laboratory apparatus is typically used to measure concentration or activity of enzyme or agent to be measured included in a subject sample. This measurement is usually achieved by determining, based on measuring light transmission quantity, color tone variation caused by reaction between the subject sample dispensed in a reaction cuvette and reagent relevant to an analysis item.
When various analysis items are measured, using a plurality of reaction cuvettes, one reaction cuvette is assigned to each analysis item at random. Reagent relevant to the analysis item and the subject sample are dispensed for the measurement. After the measurement, the used reaction cuvette is usually cleaned and dried for another measurement. One or more components included in some types of reagent, however, cannot be removed from the reaction cuvette in the ordinary cleaning and dry operation. Such remaining components may react to one or more components included in reagent for another analysis item if the same reaction cuvette is used. In this case, an analysis result of such another analysis item may be affected by the reaction between the remaining component(s) in the reaction cuvette and the one or more components included in the reagent for another analysis item.
For example, as described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-287700, when the neutral fat is measured, reagent for analyzing the neutral fat is used in a reaction cuvette. The lipoprotein lipase included in the reagent may be remained or adsorbed in the reaction cuvette without being removed by the ordinary cleaning and dry operation. Accordingly, the adsorbed lipoprotein lipase may affect the measurement of the lipase if the lipase is measured with the reaction cuvette used for the measurement of the neutral fat. This may occur even when the reaction cuvette was used, before the measurement of the lipase, for a measurement of the third analysis item which is not affected by the lipoprotein lipase and is not affectable to the measurement of the lipase.
In order to avoid the above problem, information of a set of one affecting analysis item and one analysis item to be affected is input to and stored in the clinical laboratory apparatus. When a reaction cuvette used for the affecting analysis item comes for a measurement of the analysis item to be affected, the reaction cuvette is skipped so that another reaction cuvette which is not used for the affecting analysis item can be used for the analysis item to be affected. This technique is described, for example, in Japanese Patent No. 2509591.
One or more components remaining on an internal surface of the skipped reaction cuvette may not be removed even if the skipped reaction cuvette is cleaned and dried several times in an ordinary manner. In addition, there is a possibility that such a reaction cuvette comes again for a measurement of the analysis item to be affected by the remaining components. Therefore, when such unremoved component existence and a possible use of the same reaction cuvette in an affectable manner are understood to occur in advance, a dedicated detergent may be put into the skipped reaction cuvette and kept until the next cleaning and dry occasion. That is, the skipped reaction cuvette may be macerated in the dedicated detergent as an additional cleaning.
As described above, in some cases, remaining components on a reaction cuvette used for a measurement of an affecting analysis item may affect an analysis (or measurement) result of an analysis item to be affected by the remaining components if the reaction cuvette is also used for the measurement of the analysis item to be affected. The dedicated detergent may be required to clean the remaining components. Further, if the reaction cuvette is skipped, a throughput of use of a plurality of reaction cuvettes is deteriorated.